INDIANA IN DEPTH: Smoke-free campus a right or an imposition?

At ISU, a student-led organization is working to make the university a smoke-free, tobacco-free campus — but some smokers question if it's maybe a step too far.

Called Tobacco-Free Blue, the student group was founded last spring to advocate for further limits at ISU's Terre Haute campus, which is primarily tobacco free but does have some outdoor designated smoking areas. It also allows people to smoke in private vehicles. ISU's current policy took effect in 2009.

Tobacco-Free Blue's proposal calls for the campus to be completely smoke free and tobacco free, to include e-cigarettes and all tobacco products. Designated smoking areas and smoking in private vehicles would no longer be allowed.

"It would simplify enforcement ... and it would promote the health and well-being of students, faculty, staff and visitors," said Katie Lugar, president of Tobacco-Free Blue and a doctoral student in ISU's health sciences program. "We have a lot of support."

Libby Ray, coordinator for the Vigo County Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Coalition, has assisted as a community partner.

In a campus survey last spring, two-thirds of the more than 1,000 respondents reported being exposed to second-hand smoke on a daily basis, and two-thirds supported a comprehensive tobacco-free policy.

Not all smokers abide by the rules, and some people smoke as they walk across campus or in areas not designated for smoking, Lugar said.

Tobacco-Free Blue has collected more than 1,000 written signatures and online signatures on change.org and has used social media to promote its efforts.

The group plans to meet with university President Dan Bradley later this month. A policy change would have to be approved by the board of trustees. "In a perfect world, it would be wonderful to have a tobacco-free campus by fall," Lugar said.

SMOKERS NOT AS SUPPORTIVES

Not everyone is enthusiastic about the proposal.

Virgil Sheets, a psychology professor and smoker, just recently learned about the group's efforts to ban all tobacco and smoking on campus.

"I'm always concerned when we as a society try to enforce one value set on everybody, and I think it concerns me this campus might do that as well," he said. He knows of several ISU employees and students who smoke.

He believes current restrictions are adequate, with some designated smoking shelters around campus. "For the most part, I think people do go to them. I can't say there are never any violations ... I think most people have generally tried to comply."

Sheets said he respects those concerned about people's health, but "you can't make a decision for each person. I think there are other ways to motivate change."

The United States has had a "huge decrease" in smoking over the last generation, the result of social change and public campaigns that have made smoking an undesirable behavior, he said.

"That's the best and most effective long-term route," Sheets said. "I don't know that it does us any good to just implement a prohibition. We went thru that in the 1930s and it wasn't a successful social policy."

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report indicated that 15.1 percent of adults smoked cigarettes in 2015. That was down 1.7 percent from 2014 and almost 10 percent since 1997.

Abigail Johnson, a junior and psychology major from Illinois, started smoking about two years ago during a stressful period in her life and she's trying to quit. "We choose to smoke," she said. "We know the side effects."

If ISU were to ban smoking on campus, "A lot of people would be very unhappy," she said in an interview at a designated smoking area just east of Holmstedt Hall. She predicts smokers would start their own petition and fight the proposal.

Another smoker, Caleb, doesn't believe it's a good idea. "There are a lot of people who relieve their stress by smoking," he said. "It would create a lot more stress for the students who smoke."

People will still smoke, he said. They'll just go to nearby private parking lots and public streets and sidewalks.

AT OTHER SCHOOLS

Also in or near Terre Haute, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College is a smoke free/tobacco free campus, and Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology will be effective July 1. Much of Rose-Hulman, a private school renowned for engineering education, is already is smoke free, including all academic facilities.

"It's in response to the campus community and their concerns about smoking and health-related issues," said Jim Goecker, Rose-Hulman vice president for enrollment management and strategic communications.

"I think it's getting to be a trend, particularly on smaller campuses," Goecker said. "Urban settings are more difficult to enforce."

Dee Reed, Woods spokeswoman, said the Catholic university's policy has been in place since 2009. "No smoking is clearly communicated. If someone wants to smoke, they will have to leave the campus grounds," she said.

Muncie-based Ball State University has been a tobacco-free campus since Aug. 1, 2013, said Marc Ransford, Ball State spokesman. It restricts use of tobacco in all buildings and campus grounds and includes e-cigarettes.

There is one designated, enclosed smoking area on campus that is outdoors, he said.

Indiana University-Bloomington has a tobacco-free policy, but "we don't have a follow-up process for noncompliance on campus," with the exception of student housing, which does have a process, said Cathy Wyatt, IU Health Center assistant director of disease prevention programs.

"There is no policing, and no consequence for using tobacco," she said. The IU policy does allow people to smoke in their personal vehicles, and there are designated smoking areas on campus.

The IU Health Center has obtained a grant to strengthen efforts to carry out IU's tobacco-free policy.

ISU PRESIDENT HAS CONCERNS

ISU President Dan Bradley has concerns about the cost of enforcement if the university implemented a total ban on tobacco and smoking on campus.

"I don't know how many tens of thousands of dollars a year we want to spend for enforcement. ... I don't think we want our entire police force being the smoking police."

When trustees agreed to the current policy, that was one of their concerns as well. "We can't spend a lot of resources on enforcement," he said.

Bradley recognizes some smokers do violate the current policy and light up in non-designated areas. "My thought really is, we need a culture of ... if you see someone smoking where they are not supposed to be, we should tell them to go to the smoking hut."

Bradley said he is "willing to do whatever the trustees tell me to do."

TOBACCO-FREE ADVOCATE

ISU student and legal studies major Shelly Rigsby Stuthers works full-time at a company that assists people who have respiratory disease and has assisted Tobacco-Free Blue with events. The issue is "near and dear to my heart," she said.

The university has quite a few places where people smoke, both designated and non-designated, and it can be difficult to breathe if several smokers gather in one area, she said. For those with severe asthma, even a short exposure to cigarette smoke can trigger a health problem.

A comprehensive policy would be easier to enforce, healthier for those on campus and better for an environmental/cleanliness standpoint, Stuthers said.

Comprehensive policies also "motivate people to try to quit," she said. "The more accessible you make it [smoking], the easier you make it for them to continue."

Stuthers added, "I think this is where everything is going with public policy, in the long run," she said.